Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The introduction of a secure national identity scheme/identity cards scheme using biometric information will make a step change in protecting people from identity fraud. By linking a person's identity to biometric data which is unique to that person, a fraudster claiming to be another person can be detected. The Home Office is also working with financial services organisations and the e-government unit on how the identity cards scheme could make on-line transactions more secure. The combination of a secure national identity register and a robust means of verifying identify will be an important safeguard for individuals, public services and the private sector against these types of fraud.
	Prior to the introduction of ID cards, the Government are working with partners in the private sector and law enforcement to combat this growing threat.
	The Cabinet Office published a report Identity Fraud: A Study in 2002, which examined the scale and extent of identity fraud in the UK. The report estimated the cost of identity fraud to both the public and private sector at £1.3 billion per annum.
	Following the recommendations of the Cabinet Office report, the Home Office, in collaboration with other government departments and private sector organisations, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and the British Bankers' Association, set up the Identity Fraud Steering Committee (IFSC) to lead a cross public/private sector work programme to tackle identity theft and identity fraud. The programme co-ordinates existing activity in the public and private sectors and identifies new projects and initiatives to reduce identity crime. Work is ongoing to implement measures against identity fraud that can be put in place in advance of an identity cards scheme.
	The committee met the chair and chief executive of SOCA—the Serious Organised Crime Agency—in the run up to the passing of the legislation to create the agency. SOCA will target serious organised criminals who perpetrate fraud. The agency will work closely with partners in industry and the public sector to improve their security against ID and insider fraud.
	Co-operation and partnership—based on the exchange of information and expertise—between stakeholders is crucial in this response. A Cabinet committee MISC 31 has been established to examine if any further provisions may be necessary to ensure that these exchanges take place as they need to.
	All police forces in England and Wales have now established single points of contact with their colleagues in the Crown Prosecution Service and other government departments and agencies include HM Revenue and Customs to improve the investigation and prosecution of identity crime.
	We are raising public awareness of identity fraud and how people can protect themselves from this type of crime. This includes the IFSC identity theft website (www.identitytheft.org.uk) and the identity theft leaflet, which was recently launched by my honourable friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham). The website has had over 170,000 hits and since its launch, the leaflet has been co-branded and distributed by a number of organisations including the National Neighbourhood Watch Association and Barclays.
	The Home Office, UK Passport Service and DVLA worked closely with APACS, the Finance and Leasing Association and CIFAS—the UK's Fraud Prevention Service to support their project to produce Identity Fraud—The UK Manual. The manual includes examples of known security features from UK passports and driving licences and provides guidance to financial organisations to help spot forgeries.
	The UK Passport Service (UKPS) has deployed a database of lost and stolen passports that is being shared with border authorities and police worldwide to help prevent identity fraud. UKPS is also trialing the validation of passports against the passport database when they are presented as evidence of identity when opening bank accounts. This helps to identify forged and lost and stolen passports which are being used fraudulently. In a two-month pilot involving five companies, 71 suspicious instances of passport use were detected e.g. where the details on the passport differed from that held on the database or the passport had been reported lost or stolen.
	The Registrar General's Office is exploring how we can notify financial services organisations of deaths more quickly as impersonation of the recently deceased is a significant means of perpetrating identity fraud and hopes to implement this service in the near future.
	We changed the law in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to align the penalty associated with fraudulently obtaining a driving licence with that for fraudulently obtaining a passport and made these offences arrestable. The maximum penalty for both documents is now two years' imprisonment. The Identity Cards Bill which is currently in your Lordships' House strengthens the law on the possession and use of false identity documents which are often used by criminals to open false bank accounts. Tampering with the national identity register which is another criminal offence included in the Bill would attract a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.